Low-level and non-violent drug offenders will no longer face severe mandatory sentences, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The new policy, announced Monday in San Francisco, is part of the Justice Department’s efforts to reform sentencing due to massive overcrowding of U.S. prisons. We’ll hear from supporters and critics of Holder’s announcement.
Watch Eric Holder's full speech to the ABA in San Francisco on Monday:
Guests:
Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a nonprofit, public interest law organization dedicated to the rights of crime victims and the criminally accused
Franklin E. Zimring, William G. Simon professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law and author of "The City that Became Safe: New York's Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control"
William Otis, adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Law School and former federal prosecutor who served as special counsel to President George H.W. Bush
Natasha Minsker, associate director of the ACLU of Northern California